Ocean circulation refers to the large-scale, coherent movement of seawater driven primarily by wind stress, density gradients (thermohaline processes), Earth’s rotation, and basin geometry. It encompasses wind-driven gyres, western boundary currents, and the global overturning circulation that links surface and deep waters across ocean basins. Ocean circulation redistributes heat, salt, carbon, nutrients, and tracers, thereby regulating climate, biogeochemical cycles, and sea level. It is studied using in situ observations, satellite remote sensing, numerical models, and theory, with key research focusing on circulation variability, its sensitivity to forcing (e.g., greenhouse gas–induced warming and freshwater input), and associated feedbacks in the climate system.
A new Stanford University study has helped solve a mystery about dramatic swings in sea ice extent around Antarctica.
Earth Sciences
Mar 28, 2026
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Cycles in the growth and decay of Antarctica's ice sheets once shaped marine biological productivity thousands of miles away in the subtropical ocean, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 24, 2026
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The Southern Ocean—vast, boundless waters surrounding Antarctica—plays an outsized role in global climate, largely thanks to tiny drifting organisms called plankton that soak up carbon. Reporting in Nature Communications ...
Ecology
Mar 10, 2026
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There is growing interest in the scientific community and private sector in biological approaches to marine carbon dioxide removal—strategies designed to enhance the ocean's natural ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 9, 2026
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Changes in the Gulf Stream, a strong ocean current in the Atlantic, could serve as an early warning of the imminent collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The AMOC is a massive system of ocean ...
Europe is struggling more and more with extreme heat in the summer. While climate change is the main reason for this increase, what specific physical mechanisms cause a heat wave? One important driver of weather conditions ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 8, 2026
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In the ocean, a haze made from tiny bits of dead plants, animals, and microbes hangs in the upper reaches of the water. Each particle is just a fraction of a micrometer across, but together the carbon within these particles ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 3, 2026
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The South China Sea Throughflow (SCSTF) serves as a critical oceanic conveyor belt for heat and freshwater, mediating water exchanges between the South China Sea (SCS) and the Pacific and Indian oceans while regulating key ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 27, 2026
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A new report by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO reveals a critical lack of understanding of how the ocean absorbs and stores carbon. This glaring uncertainty about our planet's largest carbon ...
Environment
Feb 25, 2026
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56
Researchers have long been puzzled by the observed cooling of the eastern tropical Pacific and the Southern Ocean accompanying global warming. Existing climate models have failed to capture this pattern. At the Max Planck ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 20, 2026
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